Craig Levein reckons the bad blood between Hearts, Partick Thistle and those who relegated them last summer may never disappear.
SPFL and SFA chiefs Neil Doncaster and Ian Maxwell were banned from attending Firhill as the Jags lifted the League One title in an empty stadium on Wednesday morning - a decision which Levein admits he can understand.
Last season the Maryhill outfit were just two points behind Queen of the South and had played one game fewer when the campaign was curtailed amid the Covid-19 lockdown - however, after exploring a legal challenge, they eventually had to succumb to the drop.
Hearts were four points behind Hamilton Accies with eight games still to play when the campaign was cut short last March but they have bounced straight back with promotion alongside the Jags.
Despite that, Levein insists the ‘bitterness’ some feel towards the governing bodies for the way they handled the pandemic will linger for a lot longer.
The former Scotland, Hearts and Dundee United manager told BBC Scotland: “What happened to the clubs who were forced out of the divisions was absolutely disgraceful. I can understand why people are still bitter.
“For anybody to be unfairly disadvantaged in this situation was ridiculous.
“There’s a lot of healing to be done - if there can be any healing done - because there are some really deep rifts between certain clubs in different divisions.
“There’s some real anger still at the hierarchy, at the top end.
“The problem here is the hierarchy haven’t really understood the depth of feeling that a lot of the clubs have and the supporters of those clubs have.
“I think it’s going to be really frosty in boardrooms all over Scotland for a few years to come.”
